Gerald Templer

Gerald Templer (11 September 1898-25 October 1979) was a British Army Field Marshal who was known for his roles in the Malaya Emergency and the Suez Crisis, serving as Chief of the Imperial General Staff from 1955 to 1958.

Biography
Gerald Templer was born in Colchester, Essex, England in 1898, and he was educated at Wellington College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He served with the Royal Irish Fusiliers in France from 1917, and after World War I in Persia, Palestine, Iraq, and Egypt. In World War II, he served in France in 1940, and from 1943 he held commands in North Africa and Italy. He was commander-in-chief and high commissioner in Malaya from 1952 to 1954, where his military efficiency ensured victory against the Communist guerrillas rising against British colonial rule, though he also saw the necessity of Malayan independence. He was Chief of the Imperial General Staff from 1955 to 1958, and he was Prime Minister Anthony Eden's chief military advisor during the Suez Crisis. He retired in 1958, and he died in Chelsea in 1979 at the age of 81.